During one of few and memorable times my dad and I visited the abbey in what is now St. Leo University, Father Gregory, a German-born Benedictine monk that taught at the time my father attended St. Leo, talked to us about the time German prisoners of war, or POWs, would come from nearby Dade City to attend Roman Catholic mass at the abbey. My father studied at St. Leo College Preparatory School during the World War II. Founded in 1889 as St. Leo College by Benedictine Order monks, by 1920, it had been transformed into a preparatory school. It was here, with the Benedictine monks, that my dad spent his elementary and high school years.
As Father Gregory was fluent in German, he was able to converse with the POWs. He and the rest of the Benedictine community made them feel welcome at St. Leo. Given that the war was still going on, it seemed that this situation caused some discomfort among some of the residents of the neighboring communities. According to what Father Gregory recounted, the student center, a structure that dated from the time the school was founded, was burnt during this time. An investigation revealed that the fire was a result of arson. Though the monks suspected that it was related to the relationship between the POWs and the abbey, no one was found responsible. Father Gregory’s personal account of this story motivated me to further research these events.
German POWs came to Florida as part of an international migration of captives that began to arrive almost since the United States became involved in the war. The first POWs were from German Navy U-boats sunk off the coast of North Carolina; then from Rommel’s Afrika Korps — captured in North Africa in 1943; and finally from the Italian and French campaigns of 1944 and 1945. By the end of the war, 378,000 German POWs were held in the United States. Of these, 10,000 were in Florida; most of which were at two major wartime base camps: Camp Blanding, near Starke and Camp Gordon Johnson, near Carrabelle. Others were stationed at such diverse places as: Dade City, which is near St. Leo, Daytona Beach, Homestead, Jacksonville, Kendall, Leesburg, Melbourne, Orlando, and Winter Haven.
Though repatriation began while the war still raged, most of the prisoners were repatriated between May 1945 and July 1946. Of the 378,000 German POWs in the U.S., about 200,000 were returned back to Germany while the remainder was sent to labor camps in Britain and France for another year or more.
Little is known about the POW experience in the U.S., and even less about personal experiences such as Father Gregory’s. This was not only due to the fact that the POWs were spaced through small rural camps, but also because American military authorities at the time, in accordance to the provision of the 1929 Geneva Convention regarding the handling of POWs, limited information on the POW program. There was also real concern that public awareness would bring either public fear or criticism of the handling of the POWs, and inhibit the most efficient use of this inexpensive labor pool. Officially sanctioned press coverage was relatively sparse. Therefore, personal experiences, such as that of Father Gregory are so important to conserve and understand this important chapter of our history.
Sadly, Father Gregory passed away a few years ago, and this story is all that remains of his experience with the German POWs. Hopefully, others will come forward and share their experiences with generations far removed from these events.